*OFFICIAL* Alienware "Graphics Amplifier" Owner's Lounge and Benchmark Thread (All 13, 15 and 17)

No, I sold my 15 R3 a few months ago, so I can't test with another laptop.

 

If you have HWInfo installed, try checking to see if your PCI bridge is detected. If it is detected, hook up the AGA and see what appears in the device manager, Nvidia control panel, and HWInfo. What we're trying to establish is whether or not this is an OS issue or a hardware problem. You might also want to get a Linux live USB ready to see what another OS makes of the problem.

 

I'm not sure where I am to find the PCI Bridge in HWInfo. The below is all I can find with the AGA detected (Port6 is the AGA's USB Hub).

 

I'm currently at work but when I get home I'll take a look at mine and see how it compares to your output.

 

I believe the AGA is PCI Express x4 Bus #109. The USB hub that is attached to the AGA isn't what we're interested in, though it does validate that the port on the laptop is necessarily working. Our curiosity is that your laptop doesn't 'see' the GPU.

Have you checked your connections in the AGA? Made sure the power connections are good and that the card is seated?

 

Yes, I have made sure the GPU is seated correctly and powered (thankfully, there's a test button on the PSU that allows me to check that).

 

So, we have basically the same laptop in a different form factor. My AGA startup is always from cold, but I have connected it hot just to see what would happen. Occasionally I'll get a BSOD but most of the time it works. Have you tried connecting it with the laptop on?

 

I have tried connecting it both when my laptop was on and off. No BSOD, no prompt telling me to restart for the eGPU to work when the laptop was on and connected to the AGA.
Funny enough, the USB Hub connects just fine regardless of what state the laptop is in. The fact that the BIOS doesn't detect the GPU and the cable light doesn't turn on worries me, but I'm not sure if my laptop is the problem, the cable is the problem, or that a new PCIe device (the RX 6600 XT) is the issue.

 

I missed that you have an AMD GPU. That's likely the culprit right there. I've read the newer Navi 2 GPUs are quirky. Do you have a team green GPU sitting around you can test with?

 

I do not. Would be nice to have a comparable Nvidia and AMD GPU with me, but my wallet isn't paying scalper prices.
I guess I'll just use the AGA as a USB hub for the time being then.

 

Okay, that PCI Express x4 Bus #109 is your AGA. If the card is initialized it will appear under that part of the device tree.

There is another user that frequents reddit and is occasionally here as well, though I do not know what their username is on this forum. I'd recommend hopping on reddit and looking for the owner of this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/k31mmy/alienware_graphics_amplifier_works_with_amd/

They got the AGA working with a RX6800. They are rocking an A51 R2, but I would imagine they could help you sort your issue out.

 

That's if I have a reddit account, but it's alright. I'm in no hurry to resolve this problem. Reading through the threads, my problem seems to be something worse since the GPU doesn't want to appear in the BIOS, indicating that the BIOS doesn't know what card is in there. And, sure, it could be that it has two BIOSes, but I did get an RX 5700 with dual BIOS to work in the AGA once (it was a pain, though), so I'm a bit skeptical that's it either.
Still, thank you for your help. At least I know the AGA port on my laptop isn't busted. If a new BIOS rolls around for the m15, I'll return to this problem.

 

The AGA really seems to work best with Nvidia, owning primarily to the dGPU baked onto the laptop motherboard. Did you try booting a Linux thumbdrive?

 

I have not. I'll look into booting from Linux at a later date.

 

Dell have updated their Alienware FAQ on Dell support. I wonder how much the saved on this bro @Normimb @etern4l

Nice. Dell offered the AGA port but never bothered validate/test the newer laptops to be compatible with the AGA.

 

The arrogance. "Users will need to let me know". Users parted with decent amount of cash expecting the AGA to bloody work! It used to be one of the major selling points of AW laptops...

 

Good find bro@papusan. Just shows how dell cares about their customers ...........money/sales.
I suspect it's CHRIS M from dell who posted that? In any case doesn't matter who it is, it's just unacceptable.

Envoyé de mon SM-G965W en utilisant Tapatalk

 

You would be correct. It's Chris-M who posted that.
When I was looking for solutions to my problem, I came across that. I'm more surprised that it was posted back in 2019 but updated to included the recent EOL stuff. It's been a bit more common to see such threads and posts from a Dell admin that reeks of something off and unusual.

 

Well, that does it for me. After watching the $3K mediocre offering that is the X17/15 fleece more whales with its middle of the road performance and baffling design decisions, coupled with Dell putting a port on a laptop without even testing it??

Dell sold the whole M-series Alienware laptops advertising compatibility with the AGA, and never even knew if that was true?

I've been buying Dell for nearly a decade, not just for me but my whole family. Not another cent after this.

 

If I remember correctly, I saw a newer youtube video with Travis North the thermal engineer chief at Dell. The old aka new m series is a budget model intended for the Chineeze market. Maybe they accept everything... I don't know. And from what I understand from same person... Newer AW models will be designed based on new tech from their pure Dell branded models. Alienware will become more and more Dell.

 

Recently reinstalled"No Man's Sky" I have no luck with the (AGA) Alienware Graphics Amplifier
Game menu sees both GPU's but only defaults to Internal gpu of laptop
Nvidia Geforce 1080 Founders Edition (No Go on this GPU)
Alienware M15 R4 Nvidia RTX 3080 (See this GPU)

 

I have had this issue as well. Here's one way to fix it. Go to device manager and disable the onboard dGPU while hooked up to the AGA. You'll only have the AGA working at that point. With my laptop quieted things down as the baked in GPU was no longer getting worked.

 

Nice Ill try that

 

So, I gave up on making the RX 6600 XT work with the AGA.
However, instead, I traded it for an RTX 3060 (not the best of trades, I know), and the RTX 3060 works with the AGA. Now to test its performance. I do see both my RTX 2070 MQ and RTX 3060 enables, but I don't have a G-Sync panel on my laptop, and Optimus is enabled. Anybody know why this is?

 

On mine I had

2080
3070 (and 3090/ Titan Xp before that)
iGPU

I also have G-sync panel.

You can either disable 2070 in device manager or go to windows settings, look for advanced graphics settings, add application and choose the 3060 for that application.

 

I ended up disabling the 2070 in device manager. Made the computer run much smoother and faster in the benchmarks I was running.
All is running well on my end, and my i7-9750H can finally stretch its legs.

 

You are going to take a hefty penalty running it through your laptop monitor. At least 10%, if not more. If you have an external display, I highly recommend using it. Otherwise, you are leaving a lot of performance on the table.

 

I am running it through two external monitors. The reason I wanted an eGPU in the first place, outside of more performance, was so I can run my monitors at 1440p 144Hz instead of 1440p 120Hz.
If I were to run it through the laptop screen itself, I might as well just stick with the 2070MQ.

 

Excellent. My apologies, from the post I replied to, it seemed that you were running the AGA back to the laptop display.

 

SUCCESS!

Finally got my hands on a great condition used AGA locally. I'm running a Area 51m 9900KF and also got my hands on an EVGA 3070. After doing a some display driver uninstaller and loading the Nvidia driver directly from Nvidia, the AGA sprung to life and has been hamming on games for a few days with zero hiccups. AWCC is running perfectly as well.

All around, everything is working as intended and I'm really enjoying the system. I'm driving a AW3418DW.

Don't see a ton of success threads here, so just sharing a combination that is working great and hammering out the games as designed. I'll probably stay with this combination for the next couple of years.

 

Where are you folks finding Cards? I mean, assuming your not paying inflated prices. My son's and my amplifiers sit dusty and unused.

 

You on the telegram alert app? I found mine through there MSRP fairly easy

Google search telegram fe partalert

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

My brother wins the Newegg shuffle quite a bit. He’s sold them to people at MSRP.

 

Hey guys any idea why the RGB on my Asus 6800xt lc oc doesn't work? Does everyone elses RGB work on gpu when in the amp?

Any advice Is appreciated.

Here's a couple benchmarks one with Area 51m (normal firestrike) and another with 13 R3 7700hq (firestrike ultra). Was my first runs I've done much better since. Shocked how well the 7700hq works with the 6800xt.

 

Hello, excuse me, my English, I only speak Spanish.
I have been trying to solve my problem for days I have read hundreds of forums even without a solution, I have a graphics amplifier that I bought new on ebay, the model is z01g and I have a laptop alienware area 51m R2 core i7 10700 ram 2933 bios capped I do not have access to options advanced, the bios of the laptop is updated to the latest version. when i connect the amplifier with a gtx 1660 or nvidia card the amplifier works as it should. you turn on the cable and it is detected in the task manager. so i decided to buy an asus tuf rx6800xt but it was disappointing to learn that it doesn't work with my graphics amp. the graphics card does not turn on and the cable does not turn on. the graphics amplifier does not detect the amd card, only the usb ports work. if the card does not turn on there is no way for the task manager to detect it. AGA works for others with the rx6800xt. I don't know what happens. No solution from this forum or from other forums has worked for me. I attach 2 videos where I teach the operation of the aga with nvidia and amd.

Nvidia video card running AGA
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x06ymzvxu2vDUrQNe5q2HOqESbQzjLhy/view?usp=drivesdk

AMD video card not detected by AGA
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zmjo8WO6ri-D9U92H8IhE3erHHF3H1HK/view?usp=drivesdk

the rx6800xt was tested on another system and it works perfectly. I need help. the AGA refuses to turn on my 6800xt
Thank you

 

The asus tuf 6800xt does not work for me in the graphics amplifier, how did you do it?

 

Long shot but have you tried switching the cable ends so it's the other way, on the aga cable. I read somewhere that this helped someone back in the day. Might be worth a shot

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

Hi, thanks for your help . I will try this solution today then I report results

 

It initially didn't work for me at first, I re-installed alienware command centre (as that is where the AGA drivers are) and turned on the laptop with the AGA plug NOT plugged into laptop then plugged AGA plug into the already running laptop and It recognized It (LED on the cable will turn white but the LED is on the under side of the cable with the Area 51m so you need to look underneath the LED) Then restart the laptop with it all plugged in.

Anyway I've wiped my Area 51m now to sell and make a desktop but I'm 50/50 might keep it yet, If I do I'll have to get It up and running again and make note of what I do exactly and let you know.

 

Yeah that's exactly how i did it pretty much > open ACC > go into the fx tab > plug the aga cable into laptop with aga plugged into power and on > leave it a minute or two > restart laptop > download and install drivers > viola.

Did it today again worked first time.

 

Hi All, just to share some positive findings.
I have an AGA connected to my Alienware Area 51M R2, currently running the ASUS RTX 3080 TI OC 12 GB.
It was an out of the box plug and play.
Put the graphic card, plugged in power. Power on the AGA, power on the laptop and installed latest NVIDIA driver from the NVIDIA experience.

Then had this on device manager:




Now just some history:

1- the PSU is a different one, it is an EVGA 1000 P6 full modular that I had; the position of the power cable did not fit so I placed it a bit inside the AGA using long screws (as you can see) and a cable like this: CERRXIAN 7.5In 20CM IEC 320 90 Degree C13 3 Pin Female to C14 3 Pin Male PDU Power Supply Extension Cord (find in web);
2- the FAN is also not the original one as I changed it - many videos and other explanations if you search for it.
The card is not overclocked it is on the normal settings.

I am not a techie, I have no clue what the difference is to the laptop 2080 Super, but I can tell you that the experience in my external screen is very very smooth.
The AGA works very very silent and the GPU goes from 20ºC to 37-38ºC when I play EVE Online - only game I am into...

Just wanted to share for all of you unhappy with the way Alienware destructed our upgrade dream on both Area 51M and the now extinct AGA.

The 3080, 3080TI and the 3090 do work with no issue.

Lowengrim

 

I also took out the lateral metal brackets. They not needed, top of AGA just screwed to base by the 4 frontal screws.
They give more space for cards longer than 310 mm.

Lowengrim

 

As info, looking at your device manager, your dGPU 2080 SUPER is throwing an error. I think it's disabled. You can verify by unplugging the AGA and see if you're using the iGPU or dGPU.

Did you install the 3080ti driver or the one for your laptop 2080 SUPER? Granted, none of this may matter if all you use is the AGA.

 

So when I started the laptop with the AGA on, in device manager I had something like "Microsoft standard adapter" showing as extra to CPU and 2080.
Then I went to the nvidia experience and there was a message to update the driver.
It installed it.
When rebooting what you see there is what showed.

It is still like that, and yes, I only use with the AGA now.
Only the 3080 is reported.


With the 2080 my monitor (LG 34GN850-B) was at 144 MHZ - (3440-1440) and smooth.
With the AGA, same, but I feel it smoother somehow.
Maybe just psychologic...

 

I answer my question myself, I modified the AGA to solve my problem and now everything works perfectly here is the detailed guide

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-6800xt-aga-z01g-gpu-does-not-turn-on.837306/

 

I have a detailed guide here for those whose gpu does not turn on in AGA now it works perfectly
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-6800xt-aga-z01g-gpu-does-not-turn-on.837306/

 

That is so cool!
Thanks for the input!

 

I haven’t been on the site for some time as I am enjoying the amp. I tried any methods to cool it and it helped but not to this extent. It works best when the cover is open I can
See temps on my RTX 2080ti as low as 58-60 which is air cooled. With cover on and even with my modifications with drilling holes and adding fans it was at 70’degrees which I wasn’t too happy still. I found the issue is the cover towards the card no allowing the fans to effectively cool the card. The amp was effectively working with cards that had a blower style exhaust system. Well I went drastic and cut the side panel off and the temps with cover closed with games full tilt graphics temps are now nice and comfy at 57 degrees and it’s not watercooled! It’s not the best appealing Alienware amplifier by any means but I am more about cooling than esthetics!

 

How was the panel cut off?

 

I took the entire cover off which is very easy. It is held on by 8 little tiny screws. After all you need to do is pull out the wire to the front logo which light up.

Once over is out. Hack away. I cut it with a jig saw. Line it up to where I wanted to cut. After I glued some trim
To the cut edges to make it look a drop cleaner. I also drilled some holes in the top of the lid to let air exhaust out. My temps prior to this with the cover on would reach about 70-72. Now with cover it’s nice 57-59c. That’s a huge drop in temps. The box was not made for these newer cards with dual
Fans. I could have kept the lid wide open which also made the temps very similar but I wanted it covered so this was my solution. Works quite well